Maotai, A town of wine(2)

In addition to the Maotai Wine Company, the town also boasts over 100 private wine factories. Most of them developed from workshops. Since Maotai wine is higher in price and limited in quantity, only a small number of people in China have the chance to drink it. However, private wine factories in Maotai can produce wine of almost the same quality as Maotai Wine Company enjoys, and at a much cheaper price thanks to the favorable geographical locations and traditional wine-making skills which are the same as Maotai Wine Company.

In the cellar of Guizhou Wuyou Wine Co. Ltd.[Photo: CRIENGLISH.com]

Wu Jiagao, owner of a private wine factory told us that his factory used to have only ten employees, but now it has 200. The wine it produces is not only well received in Guizhou, but also all over China.

Numerous small wine shops line the streets of Maotai. With white walls and black-tiled roofs, the shops are made in the traditional Hui style. Their wine, home-made or bought from small family wine workshops, is contained in jars and sold at prices ranging from 20 to 200 yuan per kilogram. More often than not, we saw the shop owners, leisurely sitting on cane chairs or lying on a sofa, selling their wine. Its hard to tell if they are drunk from their quality wine or from their easy life.

[1] [2] [3] [4]